Hooligan Irish Water Spaniels

Co-R’s Bes O’Blu Max, CD was my first IWS & is responsible for my continued involvement in the breed. Bes’ name preceded her. I had found the name years before at an exhibit of Sumerian cuneiform rolls. Bes was a demigod protector of house & home – a good name for a dog I thought, with an appropriate connotation. I’d had a Puli mix before Bes & had thought that I’d probably get a purebred Puli. I went to the Kennel Club of Beverly Hills’ spring show & saw show Pulik – lovely smart dogs that looked like walking dust mops. I stayed through Best in Show & made a list of some breeds that interested me, the Irish Water Spaniel among them. I learned that there was going to be a supported entry of Pulik at an upcoming show, so I made plans to attend. At that supported entry I spent time talking with Puli breeders. The only breeder that I really liked didn’t have pups & didn’t have plans to breed in the near future. As I recognized that I would be starting a relationship not only with the dog but also with the dog’s breeder, I was rather dismayed. Wandering around the show that I day, I happened watch when the IWSs showed in breed. I approached the ladies who’d been in the ring to discuss their curly brown charges with them. They turned out to be the Co-R’s O’Blu Max troika – Ruth Roes, Dorothy Read & Betty Liittschwager. They were delightful, intelligent women with a trio of handsome, charming dogs. We exchanged addresses & Ruth sent me an information packet filled with all sorts of goodies including excerpts from old books with the history of the breed. She also included an invitation to come & see “how cute IWS pups are.” To make a long story short, Bessie came home with me that day – coincidentally a year to the day from the death of my Puli mix.

Bessie became my teacher, my guide & my companion. I was about to start the last year of my master’s degree in architecture. Puppy Bes learned to gingerly walk AROUND the endless drawings strewn on my floor, NEVER on them. She learned to come to school with me & to settle quietly under my desk. She came with me on site visits even though she really didn’t want to. She got me through those months of all-nighters & torment. She also got me through my father’s cancer surgery & subsequent death.

Bes was bought as a pet. I didn’t know about dog shows, nor did I think that I was interested in learning about them. However, she had a very pretty head & came from a very handsome litter (Ch. Bantry Bay O’Blu Max CD, WCX x BISS Ch. Co-R’s Sylabru Sally O’Blu Max). Thanks to her I learned how to pick up a pair of scissors & properly groom an IWS. Thanks to her I learned how to show an IWS in the conformation ring (she didn’t enjoy it very much). She took me to my first IWS specialty. Thanks to her I also got back into obedience training classes – something that I’d done before & enjoyed with my mixed breed. Now THIS was something that we both liked & were pretty good at! Ironically, the only CD leg that she failed was at the Beverly Hills show. We went on to Open training – much more fun. One day Bes started refusing the jumps & refusing to even jump onto my bed. It turned out that she had bone spurs that made jumping uncomfortable, so that put an end to her obedience career.

Because of her lovely head, her breeders leased her & she had a small litter that resulted in only one pup, Co-R’s Irish Piper O’Blu Max. Unfortunately, Piper’s second testicle didn’t descend, so off he went to live in Alaska. Looking back at his photos, he turned out to be quite a handsome boy. He died, much loved, at the age of eleven.

It was while Bessie was at Dorothy Read’s house for her litter that my second IWS, Fiona, came to live with me, but more about Fi elsewhere.

It was also during Bes’ attempt to conceive that I started to learn about holistic veterinary medicine – my first steps on a journey that has become firmly intertwined with my life & my dogs.

There are lots of stories about Bes, but my favorite involves a friend who was staying with us before moving abroad. My house is built on a sloping lot with the guestroom on the lower level opening onto the garden. One evening my friend was sick with a cold & wanted to stay in bed. I had made plans to go out & told Bes to take care of Madelaine. Madelaine was dozing in bed when she heard a scratch at the door. She thought that it was the fever, so she went back to sleep. Twenty minutes later another scratch. There was Bes asking to be let in. Bes lay down by the bed & stayed there until I returned home. She’d never done that before, nor ever did it again.

Bessie ultimately died way too young of mast cell cancer at the age of five & a half. The morning of the day that she was euthanized we all went to the park to play & take photos. Those photos from the end of her life still tug at my heart. Bessie, Fiona and I went to the vet, sat together on the floor together & said goodbye. Bessie lives with us still in a Dainty Bess rose that her ashes fertilized. Rest well, Bésame!

Co-R's Bes O'Blu Max CD